Profile

Ever since he started training at the National Cricket Academy in 2001, Ambati Rayudu was touted as India's next great batting hope. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman with a compact cricketing technique.

Rayudu debuted in the 2001/02 Ranji season and in the next season, he scored a double century and a century in a match against Andhra Pradesh. His contribution of 177 runs in the Under-19 team's tour to England in 2002 helped his team chase a huge total of 305. Subsequently, in 2004, he captained the Indian U-19 team for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Rayudu had also been a regular part of the India A squad.

He participated in the rebel league in 2007 because playing with foreign stars and being watched on television attracted him. But this led to a ban on him by the BCCI. Following an amnesty offer by the BCCI, this wicket-keeper batsman returned to domestic cricket in 2009. He was a part of the Indian T20 league, Mumbai in 2010 season and performed well, earning praises from critics. Later, in 2011, Mumbai once again signed him for the fourth season. He was one of the five retained players by the Mumbai franchise in 2014 for the coming season of the Indian T20 League.